Mostly next to Google, not instead of it. Stack Overflow found that 83% of developers still ask a search engine for answers, but 70% also turn to AI. AppTweak found that 10% of U.S. adults first learned about their most recent app from an AI search engine, level with Google at 10.7%. For a business, that means two places to be found: the search results and the answer an assistant gives, plus the details people check before they decide.
Do people use ChatGPT or Google more?
Both: most respondents in one large survey use each.
Stack Overflow found that 83% of respondents still ask a search engine for answers, but 70% hit up their AI. The two numbers overlap, so most people in that survey use both. Search did not disappear when AI arrived; it gained a second place where answers start.
Outside the developer world the picture is similar. AppTweak, in a survey of 1,000 U.S. adults, found that 58% have used an AI assistant to find or choose an app, and 34% used an AI assistant at some point before their most recent app download.
Is AI now the first place people discover something new?
For about one in ten, level with Google.
AppTweak found that 10% of U.S. adults first learned about their most recent app download from an AI search engine, level with Google at 10.7%. Those are small shares each, but AI already sits in the same row as the search engine people have used for decades.
Shopping shows the same shift. Deloitte's 2026 Holiday Retail Survey found that 39% say gen AI is their primary tool for at least one holiday shopping task, and 29% would try an unknown retailer based on a gen AI recommendation.
Do people trust what AI tells them?
They use it, and then they check.
AppTweak found that when AI recommends an app, 59% still go to the store to check reviews, ratings or screenshots before deciding. Deloitte found that only 16% would trust gen AI to complete a purchase with their permission, while 31% trust it to accurately compare products and prices.
Stack Overflow saw the checking habit from the publisher's side: people are visiting less for simple questions (64%), but some are visiting more just to check the source of information for AI answers (16%).
So the assistant's answer is often the first step, and the check that follows is the second. Both steps decide whether a business gets the customer.
What does this change for a business?
You now need to be visible in two places and accurate in a third.
Think of the assistant's answer as a short list that appears before any search results are opened. Your search rankings still bring people who search, but the short list decides which names a person carries into that search, so both deserve a regular check.
- Step 1Keep your search work. People still use search engines, so the pages that rank for your buyers' questions still matter.
- Step 2Ask the assistants your buyers' questions. Put the questions buyers ask before they know your name to ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Grok and Perplexity, in fresh conversations.
- Step 3Record who is named. Note which companies are recommended, which are only mentioned, and whether you appear at all.
- Step 4Check what is said about you. Compare the description, prices, features and terms in the answers with your own pages.
- Step 5Fix the pages people check. Reviews, listings and your own product pages are where people go after the answer, so they need to match it.
- Step 6Repeat on a schedule. Answers change over time, so the same questions asked again show whether your fixes moved anything.
How does EntityRise measure the AI side?
EntityRise is an AI visibility audit for agencies and companies that shows how ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Grok and Perplexity describe and recommend a company and what to improve first.
Each audit asks up to 40 buyer questions: you mark 15 as high priority and they go to all five assistants, and up to 25 more are each asked on one assistant, for up to 100 answers kept with their sources. The AI Visibility Index weighs recommendation at 30%, mention at 20%, prominence at 20%, citation support at 15% and description accuracy at 15%.
The result is a PDF report of around 40 pages with the analysis assistant by assistant, your main competitors compared area by area and an ordered list of what to improve. After the audit, Ask EntityRise, a chat inside the dashboard, answers questions about your results from the audit's own evidence. You can start the audit, and agencies can run it for clients under their own name.
Common questions
Are people using ChatGPT instead of Google?
Mostly alongside it. Stack Overflow found that 83% still ask a search engine for answers and 70% also turn to AI.
Is AI already as common as Google for discovering new products?
In some categories it is close. AppTweak found that 10% of U.S. adults first learned about their most recent app from an AI search engine, level with Google at 10.7%.
Do people trust AI recommendations?
Many check them first. AppTweak found that 59% still go to the store to check reviews and ratings after an AI recommendation.
What should a business do about AI search?
Keep your search work, then ask the assistants the questions your buyers ask, record who is named and make sure the details about you match your own pages.
Sources
Kamil Kępiński · Founder of EntityRise and Smophy Labs Inc.
Kamil Kępiński is the founder of EntityRise and Smophy Labs Inc. He writes about how models choose the companies they recommend and how to measure a company's visibility in AI answers.
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EntityRise is an AI visibility audit for agencies and companies that shows how ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Grok and Perplexity describe and recommend a company and what to improve first.
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